Production of HIV/AIDS lessons in the entertainment-education television programme Tsha Tsha and their reception by HIV-positive men in Soweto-Johannesburg

Abstract:

This study aims to examine the production of HIV/AIDS lessons on Tsha Tsha
Entertainment-Education and their reception by HIV-positive men in Soweto, and to find
out whether this response impacts on their perception of their roles and responsibilities in
HIV/AIDS. The rationale behind this study is that gender and HIV/AIDS has been critical
in interventions aimed at combating the disease. Studies in South Africa on gender have
revealed that versions of masculinity can be implicated in the increasing infection rates of
HIV/AIDS making efforts to combat the disease problematic. A qualitative methodology
is used. This method included interviews and focus group discussions. Five interviews
were done with programme producers and researchers of Tsha Tsha to find out the major
considerations in production. An average of seven HIV-positive men were exposed to 12
episodes of Tsha Tsha to find out their responses in six focus group discussions, and
whether these indicated a changed perceptions in their roles and responsibilities in
HIV/AIDS. Their responses were then examined under Bandura’s (1971) social learning
theory and Hall’s (1977) encoding-decoding theory .This theories explain the
considerations in the production of lessons in Tsha Tsha and how audiences respond to
those lessons respectively. The findings reveal that audiences (HIV-positive) men
identify with lessons around HIV-testing, disclosure, support and those that challenge
stigma and masculinity in HIV/AIDS. Disclosure emerges as a major theme and is
compared with sub themes of testing, stigma, masculinity and social support to form
categories that are presented as the findings. While HIV-disclosure is seen as challenging
HIV/AIDS stigma and masculinity, where men accept their condition, and take
responsibility to continue occupying their space as men, E-E production can reinforce
lessons around disclosure and other coping strategies to combat HIV/AIDS.